About The Louverture Project

The Louverture Project (TLP) collects and promotes knowledge, analysis, and understanding of the Haitian revolution of 1789–1804. TLP runs on MediaWiki software, the same software which powers Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. Like Wikipedia, TLP is built and maintained by a community of users, all of whom have access to and responsibility for editing the 467 pages (and growing) which currently make up the project.

Simply put, you can edit anything you see here, and the success of The Louverture Project depends on how you participate.

A unique feature of The Louverture Project is the development of a historical narrative to accompany the encyclopedic collection of facts on the site. The Revolution Will Be Forgotten is a work in progress, a popular history of the events of 1789–1804 and their effects on the world at large. Readers of the online narrative will have the freedom to read the text on its own, or to explore the ideas, concepts, and facts referenced in the text in varying levels of detail. Of course, TLP will also function as a fully-searchable online resource for a wide range of Haiti-related historical material.

Though we're starting out with a focus on the Revolutionary Period of Haitian history, it's not easy to tell exactly when – or if – the effects of that revolution ended. Therefore, the scope of the site is bound to expand as more contributors come online. Be bold in adding to and editing the site. Let it be l'ouverture – the opening – to knowledge and understanding of a fascinating, important, and too-long ignored piece of world history.

Questions and Answers

Most people who visit a Wiki for the first time have a lot of questions about vandalism, disinformation, and other problems endemic to letting anyone in the world re-write your site. We won't go into depth about such concerns here as there has been extensive discussion on these issues at wikis worldwide. For responses to some common objections, see this page at Wikipedia.